OOCL takes delivery of first 2 megaships

   The liner carrier OOCL on Friday took delivery of the first two in a series of 10 13,208-TEUs ships, the largest such vessels in its history, at a ceremony at Samsung Heavy Industries’ shipyard in South Korea.
   The carrier will deploy one of the ships, OOCL Brussels, on the G6 Alliance’s Loop 5 service between Asia and Northern Europe.
   The other ship, NYK Helios, will be chartered to NYK Line, OOCL’s partner in the Grand Alliance, and will be deployed on the G6’s Loop 4 service. The G6 is composed of the Grand Alliance members (which also include Hapag-Lloyd) and the three members of the New World Alliance (APL, MOL, and Hyundai Merchant Marine).
   Loop 5 has a rotation of Gwangyang, Busan, Shanghai (Yangshan), Shekou, Yantian, Singapore, Suez Canal, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Thamesport, Suez Canal, Singapore, and Gwanyang.
   Loop 4 has a rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai (Yangshan), Yantian, Singapore, Suez Canal, Le Havre, Southampton, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Suez Canal, Jeddah, Singapore, Yantian, and Ningbo.
   Loop 4 is home to the G6’s largest vessels, predominantly 10,000- to 13,000-TEU ships from APL, Hyundai, and Hapag-Lloyd, according to data from American Shipper sister company BlueWater Reporting. Loop 5 is currently operated with vessels in the 8,000- to 9,000-TEU range.
   OOCL originally ordered six 13,000-TEU vessels in March 2011, then increased the order to 10 vessels in May, with five of the ships to be chartered to NYK. – Eric Johnson